University Of Akron

Gerry Faust, football coach at the University of Akron, has received a three-year extension of his original five-year contract. The former Notre Dame coach has a 22-21-1 record in four seasons with the Zips.

With his first draft pick as a professional head coach, Chivas USA's Robin Fraser resisted the urge to spring a surprise Thursday. The former U.S. national team defender made a defender his first choice for Chivas, selecting NCAA champion Zarek Valentin from the University of Akron as the fourth overall pick in Major League Soccer's 2011 SuperDraft in Baltimore. Valentin, the third of seven Akron players drafted, was the first defender chosen, and Fraser quickly explained why. "Zarek is a proven winner, he's a leader, he's very vocal, and he has a very good understanding of the game," Fraser said.

One state and a football world away from South Bend, Ind., Gerry Faust sits in his office in Akron, Ohio, and worries over how to guide his University of Akron Zips to victories over Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State and Temple. Three years ago, the end of Faust's troubled 5-year tenure at Notre Dame was marked by a 58-7 loss to Miami in his final game, days after he had announced his resignation. Two Saturdays ago, Notre Dame's 31-30 victory over the Hurricanes, then ranked No.

April 1, 2001 | D.J. WALDIE, D.J. Waldie is the author of "Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir." His forthcoming book, in collaboration with photographer Marissa Roth, is "Real City.'

Could we have foreseen the winter of our disconnect? Could we have predicted January's blackouts and this summer's promise of more to come or counted in advance the windfall billions collected by Sun Belt power suppliers with shiny, abstract names like Enron and Dynegy or the millions more owed them by California's near-bankrupt utilities with their plodding 19th-century gas-and-electric names? The short answer is yes. We should have seen the darkness coming.

The opponent won't be as physically imposing as the past two, but Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy still expects the Titans to come out of today's game against Akron with their share of bumps and bruises. Not so much because the Zips can apply the kind of punishment that Southeastern Conference bullies Auburn and Mississippi State did the past two weeks, but because Akron plays its games in the Rubber Bowl, which has a very unforgiving artificial surface.

With his first draft pick as a professional head coach, Chivas USA's Robin Fraser resisted the urge to spring a surprise Thursday. The former U.S. national team defender made a defender his first choice for Chivas, selecting NCAA champion Zarek Valentin from the University of Akron as the fourth overall pick in Major League Soccer's 2011 SuperDraft in Baltimore. Valentin, the third of seven Akron players drafted, was the first defender chosen, and Fraser quickly explained why. "Zarek is a proven winner, he's a leader, he's very vocal, and he has a very good understanding of the game," Fraser said.

April 1, 2001 | D.J. WALDIE, D.J. Waldie is the author of "Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir." His forthcoming book, in collaboration with photographer Marissa Roth, is "Real City.'

Could we have foreseen the winter of our disconnect? Could we have predicted January's blackouts and this summer's promise of more to come or counted in advance the windfall billions collected by Sun Belt power suppliers with shiny, abstract names like Enron and Dynegy or the millions more owed them by California's near-bankrupt utilities with their plodding 19th-century gas-and-electric names? The short answer is yes. We should have seen the darkness coming.

The Mid-American Conference's decision to reject the University of Akron's application to join the league will not stop the school's efforts to enter the NCAA Division I-A ranks, Athletic Director David Adams said recently.

The opponent won't be as physically imposing as the past two, but Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy still expects the Titans to come out of today's game against Akron with their share of bumps and bruises. Not so much because the Zips can apply the kind of punishment that Southeastern Conference bullies Auburn and Mississippi State did the past two weeks, but because Akron plays its games in the Rubber Bowl, which has a very unforgiving artificial surface.

Gerry Faust, football coach at the University of Akron, has received a three-year extension of his original five-year contract. The former Notre Dame coach has a 22-21-1 record in four seasons with the Zips.

One state and a football world away from South Bend, Ind., Gerry Faust sits in his office in Akron, Ohio, and worries over how to guide his University of Akron Zips to victories over Cal State Fullerton, New Mexico State and Temple. Three years ago, the end of Faust's troubled 5-year tenure at Notre Dame was marked by a 58-7 loss to Miami in his final game, days after he had announced his resignation. Two Saturdays ago, Notre Dame's 31-30 victory over the Hurricanes, then ranked No.